The Man and his Blue Spaceship
by Sazuka57
Summary: The five times Garrus and Shepard met The Doctor.


**The Man and his Blue Spaceship**

The first time they met him was at the Citadel. They were leaving the marketplace when they heard someone yelling for Shepard. They looked in the direction of the noise to find a pair of humans—a man and a woman—running up to them. The two of them were being shot at by a pair of krogans, despite the fact that they were unarmed civilians. Shepard, Tali, and Garrus reached for their weapons, and, as soon as the pair of humans was past them, unleashed a barrage of bullets at the krogans. The krogans shifted their attacks to them rather than the retreating humans, and the fight began.

It was a quick firefight, with Shepard alone being more than a match to the krogans. Once they lay dead, Garrus made a quick sweep for more enemies before declaring the area safe. Shepard nodded in acknowledgement then turned to look for the civilians that angered the krogans.

Said civilians turned out to be hiding behind a big crate, with the woman ducking completely out of sight and the man peeking out and watching the fight. When he saw them put away their weapons, he gestured to his companion that it was over before the two of them stood up. As Shepard approached, he gave her a wide smile and introduced himself as The Doctor and his friend as Donna Noble.

Shepard had given him an accusatory stare and told him that he wasn't real.

The man—The Doctor—patted his own body and announced that no, he was real. Or at least he thought he was real. Donna gave him a withering look before turning to assure Shepard that the man was indeed real. Insane, but real.

Shepard studied the two of them for a moment before asking what they were doing on the Citadel. The Doctor explained that they'd come to sightsee, and had headed up to the Presidium. Then Donna cut him off, telling him that it was a brilliant plan leaving the TARDIS in the wards, as the mercenaries now have it and refuse to give it back. The Doctor shrugged and said it was a minor setback, that they'll get the TARDIS back soon, to which the woman scathingly reminded him of how well it was going, with the aliens shooting at them and everything.

Garrus had to stop the argument to ask what a TARDIS was, and that made the man launch into a brief description about his time traveling spaceship (that was bigger on the inside!). Tali interrupted to say that the man must be lying, because no spaceships were allowed past the Citadel's docking bays. Garrus agreed with her. The Doctor seemed partially insulted by it, but Shepard just shook her head and told them that if the reports were true, then his spaceship could very well be anywhere on the Citadel right now.

The Doctor smiled and said that he knew exactly where his ship was, but that there was a group of krogan mercenaries between them and the ship, and they needed some help to get there. Shepard listened when Garrus told her that this was a bad idea and they should leave it to C-Sec before telling the Doctor to lead the way. The man smiled happily and told everyone to follow him.

He walked up front, with Donna next to him asking him about everything. She asked about the mercenaries first, and he explained the krogan with surprisingly accurate knowledge. She then asked about Garrus, and why he wasn't a C-Sec officer ("I thought all turians were officers!" "_No_! It's like saying all humans are cooks!"). When she asked about the quarians, the Doctor had to run a few things past Tali to confirm what he was saying was correct.

After her curiosity was sated about the aliens, Donna asked the Doctor about Shepard, and the man praised Shepard with adulation. He called her a hero; a savior of the galaxy. He recounted her single-handed defense of Elysium and how it earned her the Star of Terra. He told stories about the events on Noveria and Therum, with each story having a few slight exaggerations that went uncorrected. He commended her diplomacy, her choices, and her mercy; especially her mercy at sparing the lives of people, and his prime example was the Rachni Queen, who would later become an important ally. He had stopped then, asking Shepard if she'd been to Feros yet, and she told him that they had just come back from Feros and were on their way to Virmire. So the Doctor retold the events of Feros, claiming that it was his favorite because of how Shepard maneuvered around the possessed colonists, not hurting a single one in the battle.

By the time he had finished his storytelling, they were in front of a large warehouse, and the Doctor told them that the TARDIS was inside. Shepard told him to stay behind her as they made their way in. They were instantly ambushed by a bunch of angry mercenaries that refused to talk. So Shepard shot them, and Garrus and Tali followed suit while The Doctor and Donna hid. The pair of travelers watched as Shepard and her team wiped the floor with the attackers and didn't come out until Shepard sounded the all clear.

After that, the Doctor led the group towards the back of the warehouse and searched until he found the TARDIS. Garrus and Tali were very surprised—the TARDIS turned out to be a large blue box. Tali had instantly started argueing that it was no way a spaceship, because where did all the machinery go? A spaceship would need a lot of hardware, and the box wasn't anywhere big enough. Garrus agreed with her, pointing out that there were no propulsion systems on the blue box. In reply, the doctor smiled and told them that it was bigger on the inside. He refused to elaborate any more, and told Donna that it was time to go. Donna said her goodbyes to the three of them before stepping into the TARDIS. The Doctor went to go inside as well, but he turned around and smiled brightly, saying the word 'brilliant' before going inside and closing the door behind him.

The three of them watched as the light on top of the TARDIS began to glow, and a strange noise filled the room. The TARDIS then started fading out, and Garrus and Tali could only gape as it was happening, because everything that they knew about spaceships was being disproved during this moment.

When the TARDIS was gone, the two aliens turned to Shepard and asked her about the Doctor and how she knew him. Her only reply to them was to look it up on the extranet.

/-/-/-

By the time Tali and Garrus had time to look up the doctor on the extranet, the _Normandy_ had left the Citadel and was on its way to Feros. The two of them were working with Tali's omnitool, as she was reading the search results out loud while Garrus worked on the Mako. Liara come up to them then, curious about their joint project. When they told her about the Doctor, she had shrugged and said dismissively "Oh, that man" before leaving. They called out after her, asking her what she meant, but she never elaborated, not even years later.

/-/-/-

The second time Garrus met the Doctor was in Omega. The man was alone, and was standing near a large window, looking out at the skyline. The area was relatively empty, so Garrus, dressed as Archangel, approached him. He started with small talk about the climate and dangers of Omega, but the Doctor saw right through everything and called him by his real name. Garrus hissed at him not to do that, because this was Omega and Archangel was a very hated individual that had a mysterious identity. The Doctor didn't care, and he unpleasantly asked Garrus what he was trying to accomplish by taking the law into his own hands. Was it to make himself feel better about Shepard's death? What would Shepard think of him? Would she approve?

The hard questions enraged Garrus. He yelled at man about Shepard's death—where was he? Why didn't he save her? He was a time traveler, so he should have been able to save her!

It was then that Garrus learned about fixed points in time and about how changing them would cause the fabric of reality to fold onto itself. But Garrus, in his irrationality, didn't care, and told the man that he should have at least tried, that Shepard deserved it. The Doctor countered him by reminding him that Shepard worked hard to save the galaxy, and she wouldn't appreciate it getting destroyed just to save her.

Garrus growled at the man and asked him what it was that he was doing here. Was he here to just remind Garrus of how far he's fallen? And where was his human friend anyways?

The Doctor turned his back to Garrus and somberly told him that his friend had gone home. Garrus felt that there was more to the story than that, but he didn't have the chance to ask as the Doctor explained that there was another fixed point in time that was about to happen, and he was here to witness it.

Garrus wanted to ask more questions, to try and find out the details so that he could prove the Doctor wrong and show him that fixed points could be changed. But before he could ask anything, the Doctor reminded him that he had a meeting to get to. The turian huffed and abrubtly turned and left, heading to his meeting.

As he was leaving, he heard the Doctor apologize after him, and Garrus shrugged it off. He thought that the man was apologizing for Shepard's death, which was much too long ago now to matter.

It was only after he woke up in the med bay that he realized that the Doctor had been apologizing about Sidonis' impeding betrayal.

/-/-/-

The third time they met him was on Illium. They knew he was there because they saw his blue box—the TARDIS, Garrus mentally corrected himself—near the docking bays. Shepard had kept an eye out for him, and they finally found him in Eternity. He wore a different face and was surrounded by asari, but the Doctor was completely oblivious to their flirting as he ordered drink after drink. Shepard arrived and dispersed the gaggle of fangirls, and the Doctor greeted her like one would greet an old friend. When she asked him what he was doing there, he pointed at a pair of dancing humans and declared that it was their honeymoon and that they were here to celebrate. He insisted that they have a round of drinks on him so they could talk and catch up.

Shepard agreed and sat down, with Garrus following suit. Their third, Miranda, was more worried about the mission and wanted them to keep going. Shepard told her that her contact wasn't here yet, so they might as well do something as they waited. Miranda reluctantly agreed and gave in, sitting down as the Doctor called his friends over. The pair of humans came over and introduced themselves as Amy and Rory Williams. Before either could say anything else, the Doctor charged Rory with getting drinks for everyone. The man put up a fight at first, but quickly gave in when Amy sided with the Doctor.

The conversation they had was pleasant, and was filled with curious questions by Amy and Rory. Miranda had a few questions of her own, with most being about how the TARDIS operated. It made Garrus conclude that she was trying to find out the details to send them to Cerberus. Luckily, the Doctor easily deflected all of the questions, and the only answer he ever gave was about how the TARDIS was bigger on the inside.

Nonetheless, Garrus was uneasy. He couldn't figure out if this reincarnation of the Doctor was in the future or from the past, and part of him expected the man to bring up what happened on Omega. He didn't know whether to be grateful or upset that it never came up, and he didn't have the time to stop and ask questions when Miranda's contact came along.

He resolved to ask about it after their business was done, but by the time they came back the Doctor and his friends were gone.

/-/-/-

The fourth time they met him was after Thessia. They were in deep space on their way to Sanctuary when they found his blue box just drifting out in space. Worried, Shepard hailed the TARDIS and was relieved when the Doctor replied. She asked him what he was doing, and he replied that he was just thinking. He had tried to sound light hearted, but there was a strain in his voice that told how everything was not what it seemed. She invited him to board her ship, and he agreed, telling her he'd park the TARDIS in the shuttle bay. EDI expressed concerns, but Shepard dismissed them and told EDI to alert anyone down in the shuttle bay that a big blue box will be appearing there momentarily. She also told EDI to announce that they will have a guest on board, and, as soon as the announcement aired, Garrus commed her and asked her who was the guest. When she told him who it was and where he was going to appear, he asked her to stop the elevator on his floor so he could come along.

When they got to the shuttle bay, they found Vega and Cortez trying to get the Doctor to let them see inside the TARDIS. The man was kindly declining, but running out of excuses, so he called attention to Shepard and Garrus as soon as they stepped out of the elevator. The two men instantly stopped their questions to greet their commander, and Garrus watched as the Doctor sighed in relief. Shepard greeted the Doctor in a friendly manner and properly introduced him to Vega and Cortez. Their introduction was cut short, however, when Traynor commed Shepard and told her that one of the admirals wanted to speak to her in the war room. Shepard sighed and put Garrus in charge before leaving to answer the call.

As soon as elevator's doors closed, Vega resumed trying to get permission to go inside the TARDIS. Garrus gave the Doctor a pitying look, as the man looked unusually weary. So Garrus decided to help the man take his mind off things and suggested they go up to the lounge for a drink. He didn't think that Vega and Cortez would follow, but it made sense that they would be interested in the _Normandy's_ guest.

When they got there, the bar was already occupied by Kaidan, who formally introduced himself to the Doctor before getting everyone drinks. They proceeded to have a guys' night out, or as close as they could get on the ship. There were drinks, stories, and poker involved, and the Doctor was enthusiastic about all three. Garrus made sure to moderate the conversation so that it didn't come to the war with the Reapers or with whatever had the Doctor distressed, and all in all, they had a great few hours.

Vega was in the middle of telling them a wild story about his basic training days when Shepard came back. She looked weary, but smiled as she joined them. The tension in her wouldn't dissipate, however, and it started souring their already fragile cheery mood. It even affected the Doctor, who, after a few more rounds of cards, stood up with a strained smile and said that he should get going. The men said their goodbyes, and Shepard walked the man back to the TARDIS. They made small talk on the way, which turned out to be somewhat awkward, as both deliberately skirted around topics that had them distressed.

When they reached the TARDIS, the Doctor turned around and shook the Commander's hand. He smiled sadly as he told her that he would see her in London, and that she shouldn't give up hope, because there was always hope.

After that, he unlocked the ship's door and disappeared inside, leaving Shepard to her own thoughts as the TARDIS blinked out of existence.

/-/-/-

The final time they met him was, indeed, in London. They were on their way to the F.O.B. when they came across the now-familiar blue box near an abandoned building. Wondering where the Doctor was, Shepard knocked on the door of the TARDIS, but there was no reply. They took a moment to look around, but they were interrupted when they heard someone yelling in distress.

Fearing the worst, the group moved towards the noise. When they got there, they found a pair of humans standing around. The female was the one who was yelling, and her voice held a panicked tone to it. The man was trying to calm her down, telling her that it was okay, that they were most probably in the battlegrounds of the Reaper War, which meant that they should be quiet and leave before the monsters showed up. But the lady paid him no attention as she wailed in shock at the sight of her ravaged surroundings.

Shepard approached the two of them and, using her commander voice, brought the troubled woman back to her senses. The woman still looked distraught, but she apologized for her outburst and asked her partner to return to the TARDIS. Before the Doctor could reply, Shepard interrupted him with a smile, saying that she didn't recognize him with his new face.

The Doctor stared at her suspiciously and asked her if they've met before. She gave him a baffled look before replying that yes, they had met multiple times before. The Doctor gave her a hard look before relaxing, and reintroduced himself. He then introduced his friend as Rose Tyler, who nodded and said that it was nice to meet them, even in this upsetting environment. Shepard introduced herself as well as Tali and Garrus, then offered to escort them back to the TARDIS, to which the Doctor enthusiastically agreed.

They walked in relative silence until Rose was calm enough to ask the Doctor about what was happening, and the Doctor launched into a short explanation. He told his friend about everything, from the attack on Eden Prime until their point in time, lauding Shepard and her crewmates with praise for their heroic actions. He called Shepard a hero; the savior of the galaxy, and highlighted her best moments, which included Illos, Horizon, Tutchanka, and Rannoch. He told his companion that Shepard's story would still be remembered, even fifty thousand years from now.

Shepard listened intently to the Doctor as he talked. She only spoke up once they reached the TARDIS, and that was to announce that they had arrived. Rose thanked her for her help and went inside, followed by the Doctor.

Shepard stopped him with a question—asking him if the war will be over. The Doctor gave her a somber look and told her that yes, it would be, but with a price. She didn't ask any further questions, and instead nodded her dismissal.

As she watched the TARDIS blinking out of existence, she felt Garrus' and Tali's eyes on her, looking at her and making sure that she was okay. She didn't acknowledge either of them, and gave the command to keep moving as soon as the TARDIS completely disappeared.

As she listened to Anderson's plan of attack, Shepard could only hope that the stories they told about her in the future were like the ones the Doctor told—short and true.


End file.
